§ 1. Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Defence if there has been any change in the pattern of patrols in the south Atlantic following the sinking of a fishing vessel by the Argentine navy off the Falklands Islands.
§ The Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr. John Stanley)My hon. Friend will, I am sure, understand that I cannot provide details of Royal Navy patrol patterns in the south Atlantic. However, Her Majesty's Government have strongly condemned the deplorable attack on an unarmed fishing vessel in international waters by an Argentine coastguard vessel on 28 May, with resultant loss of life.
§ Mr. McCrindleI understand the Minister's inability to be specific, but will he give the House an assurance that the Government remain satisfied that the level of naval patrolling within our terroritorial waters around the Falklands remains adequate to deter the sort of movement to which I referred in my question? More generally, has the incident caused Her Majesty's Government to reconsider the prospect, to which they look forward, of reducing the garrison on the Falkland Islands?
§ Mr. StanleyI can assure my hon. Friend that we keep our force levels under review, and at present we are certainly satisfied that our force levels in the south Atlantic are appropriate to meet the threat.
§ Mr. CartwrightAs the seas around the Falkland Islands now seem to be becoming a traffic jam of foreign trawlers, all intent on stripping the islands of one of its most important assets, is it not time that Britain and Argentina got together to try to agree some sensible policy for protecting the fish stock?
§ Mr. StanleyThe hon. Gentleman will appreciate that fisheries policy is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. He will also be aware that Government policy is to try to produce a multinational solution to that problem.
§ Sir John Biggs-DavisonAre Her Majesty's Government aware that, as a result of this example of frightfulness, the British people of the Falkland Islands are the more resolved that they shall not pass under the sovereignty or administration of Argentina?
§ Mr. StanleyI am grateful to my hon. Friend. He knows, as well as anybody else, that on every possible occasion in recent years the people of the Falkland Islands have made it clear that they wish to remain under a British Government.
§ Mr. DalyellWhatever the ministerial responsibility, what are the Government, as a whole, going to do about the ecological disaster of over-fishing?
§ Mr. StanleyAs I have already said, the Government are trying to negotiate a satisfactory multinational fishing regime.
§ Mr. Cyril D. TownsendWill my right hon. Friend continue, privately and effectively, to point out to the Foreign Office the extra burden that will fall upon the Royal Navy should Britain decide to go for a unilateral conservation regime in that part of the world?
§ Mr. StanleyMy hon. Friend makes a very pertinent point.